ANIMALS OF UNCERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS 71 
by the retreating tide. 
They are usually highly colored 
with yellow, green, violet, or various shades of red, and are 
so twisted into tangled 
masses that the differ- 
ent parts of the body 
are  indistinguishable. 
As the animal crawls 
about, a long thread- 
like appendage, the pro- 
boscis, is frequently shot 
out from its sheath at 
the forward end of the 
body and appears to be 
used as a blind man 
uses his stick. At other 
times, when small worms 
and other animals are 
Fia. 44.—A band or nemertean worm, A, entire 
worm; B, head, bearing numerous eyes and 
spine-tipped proboscis. 
encountered, the proboscis is shot out farther and with 
greater force, impaling the victim on a sharp terminal spine 
(Fig. 44). The food is now borne to the mouth, located 
near the base of the proboscis, is passed into the digestive 
tract, traversing the entire length of the body, and is far- 
ther operated on by systems of organs tvo complex to be 
considered here. 
